To Benjamin Franklin from Jonathan Williams, Sr., 16 December 1784
From Jonathan Williams, Sr.
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Boston Decer. 16th. 1784
Hond Sr—
Mr. Jonas Hartwell of Lincoln in this State merchant Capt. & owner of the Brig Remittance being at St. Sabastin a port in Spain for Some reason was taken & put into Goal & from thence transported into the internal part of the Country & it Seemes his friends Cant find him they hear that he is in the Inquisition as the Officers of that Department have taken away his money about 20. or 30 thousands dollars the proceds of his Cargoe of Tabaco— His friends are Very Anxious & desire me to Write you On this Subject as he is an American & a Son of our Hartford its feard that in Some dispute he has Said Somthing that the religious Order has taken hold off— If it Should happen to lay in your power to relive this man it would Very much Oblige him as Well as his Famley & friends they are takeing every measure in their power & are allmost distracted fearing Consequences—2 I endevored to Excuse my Writing or trobleing you with it but they Would not be Satisfyed as they think & know that you Can do more then others—
We are all through the goodness of God Well— Belive me Ever Your Dutifull Nephew & most Hble Servant—
Jona. Williams
Addressed: His Excellency Benjamin Franklin Esqr / Passy / Near / Paris—
2. BF had already written to Carmichael about Hartwell; see the postscript to his letter of Oct. 11[—15]. News of the arrest reached Massachusetts shortly before the present letter was written. Hartwell’s father, Ephraim, and Moses Brown petitioned the Mass. governor and council, and their memorial and several affidavits were forwarded first to the Mass. delegates in Congress, and then, on March 19, 1785, from John Jay to Carmichael, along with a congressional resolution instructing him to inquire into the circumstances of Hartwell’s arrest. If Hartwell should have violated Spanish laws, Carmichael was to apply for his release “not as a matter of right, but of favor”: Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, VI, 284–90; D. Michael Ryan, Concord and the Dawn of Revolution: the Hidden Truths (Charleston, S.C., 2007), pp. 26–8.